1000 Days

In 1000 days I will turn 30. That seems like a ridiculously long time but also a pretty damn soon. I lament here constantly about how fast life is moving so I figured I better get on it and think seriously about what I want to achieve in my life. It was a long list. Some of the things were small, easy, others were big, too big to achieve in the next few years. It was a great exercise though and I did manage to pull together what I think it a somewhat reasonable (but still big) list of things I want to do before I hit my next major milestone though.

Yeah, I'm not starting off easy. I've always found other languages incredibly difficult. I even have a Standard Grade in French but all I did was memorise the phrases I needed, having a conversation was not something I was capable of doing then and ten years later I can just remember how to say 'hello, I'm Alice and I'm 13 years old', not exactly helpful. Not too long after this 1000 days runs out I'll probably be thinking about having children though and as LF is French it only makes sense that we teach them that alongside English. I really don't want to be a parent who cannot understand their children so this is a really big one for me. At the moment I am using Duolingo to learn the basics, after that we're thinking of banning English at home so I can practice my conversation skills with LF.

The obvious next step after learning French is obviously to move to France and be fully immersed in the language. Plus I would get to live in France. We've been discussing this idea pretty much since we got together so it is definitely on the cards, we just can't figure out when! I don't want to leave it until too late so adding it to this list gives us a nice incentive to get on with it. We're not sure how long we would go for, or even where in France, but three or six months there sounds just about perfect to me. And I think LF would like to be back home for a little while.

I have not done nearly enough travelling in my twenties. It's a fact. The travelling I have done has all been amazing, Sweden, Italy, Romania, but there are still so many places I want to see. Unfortunately with the dogs travelling has to be planned pretty well in advance, I'd really like to sneak in at least a couple of long weekends away over the next few years though and see somewhere new.

This has been on my resolutions list every year since I turned 19. I've still not managed, in fact running for more than 3 or 4 minutes gets me totally our of breath. It's going to get harder and harder the longer I leave it though so hopefully this will give me the push to get it done, finally.

Apparently getting my licence wasn't enough of a challenge for me, I decided to throw in buying a car. This is also one that I have been working towards already, I've mentioned it a couple of times on Twitter but I'm doing weekly 2 hour lessons at the moment and I feel like they are going really well. I'm going to write a longer post on what it is like learning in your late twenties but there is one thing I will say now. If you are putting off learning because you are afraid of being in charge of a massive piece of metal that could easily kill someone, it's really not as scary as I thought it would be. My driving instructor is incredibly nice (if your local and interested in learning I can give you his details) and most importantly, I always feel safe when I'm in the car with him. I'm hoping to do my test in Summer next year (I'm taking it slow) and hopefully by then I'll have some savings to get a car of my own.

I love sewing, but my skills are basic at best. I'd really like to learn as much as I can and then translate that into sewing a dress for myself. Not only is it a useful skill but I would also be able to get exactly the dress I wanted, rather than wandering around the shops in a daze each time I need something for a specific event.

This goal has been really inspired by all the amazing, business savvy, blogging ladies there are out there. I'd never even thought of turning one of my hobbies into a way of making a little bit of extra money until I joined this community. I don't particularly want to be 100% self-employed, I really enjoy my line of work, but I think running my own business would be an amazing experience, would teach me lots of useful skills and, you know, a little bit of extra cash would be nice. I've not worked out which of my hobbies I (i) would want to dedicate that much time to and (ii) would be financially viable but making those kind of decisions is also an exciting part of the process. Hopefully I'll be telling you all about my wares sometime next year.

I love writing whether it is on here, for work, fictional bits and pieces or even fanfiction. I'm pretty terrible for not finishing things that I have started though. Short stories, fine, anything coming close to a novel though and I get about a third of the way through and then get bored. I really want to either finish something I have already started or begin anew and actually get it done this time. I've no illusions that anyone else will want to read it, but it'd be nice to do it for myself.

This kind of goes hand in hand with my running goal but I really want to take a little bit better care of myself and think more about the things I put into my body. Doing this now will put me in good stead for the future and is one of those things I should be doing, but I'm not. I won't say I'll never eat junk food or forget my breakfast again, but I will try and get a bit better with it.

And a big super serious note to end on. This is kind of a necessity rather than a desire though. A lot of my goals are going to involve some financing so it only makes sense to start saving for some specific things and other just general life bits and bobs. I'm not expecting to put a lot aside but every little counts, right?
I'll be trying to do seasonal updates, maybe ever 100 days or so, both to keep you updated on my progress and give me regular check ups as I go. I'll still be doing resolutions at New Year but I'm going to keep them small for the next couple of years and try and focus on this list in the long run. I'm really excited and a little bit anxious about all of them so it'll be fun to see where I am on my next check in day on March 6th next year.

Are you working towards any big goals at the moment? Or are you still wrapping up your resolutions for 2014? I'd love to get some inspiration from you guys!
Oh, and if you wanted to know, I will turn 30 on the 23rd of August 2017.